Oldtown News

My look at the issues of our Oldtown neighborhood and other political news

Thursday, March 05, 2009

DERA OFFICE CLOSED for THREE DAYS

Oldtown NewsVancouver, BC

DERA OFFICE CLOSED for THREE DAYS

The Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) was closed for three days this week so employees could attend court in support of their boss Kim Kerr who is suing former Councillor Peter Ladner. Mr Kerr is the Executive Director of DERA.

DERA closed its doors Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week while court was in session. It seems Mr. Kerr could not stomach attending court on his own and apparently suggested to staff that they should be supporting him. That is code for if you want to keep your job you better do as I demand or else.

DERA receives public funding and one must wonder why staff are being paid to attend court and thereby denying residents of the area the funded services which they are paid to provide.

Thursday the court was in recess so the DERA office re-opened today. Whether staff will again congregate when court convenes is anyone's guess.

One anonymous source who lives in a DERA managed building states, " why does Kim Kerr need DERA staff to accompany him to court when there is a board of directors who are vested with the legal affairs of the society and they should be attending this silly court case and not staff".

The source goes on to claims that this latest episode once again shows DERA's poor judgement and whether DERA has mis-used public dollars by denying residents the services they are supposed to be providing needs answering.